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Ganong Leads USA on Birds of Prey

by

USSA

2012-11-30 14:28

Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA) carves his way down the Audi Birds of Prey downhill to lead the U.S. Ski Team in 16th. (Getty Images-Doug Pensinger)

BEAVER CREEK, CO (Nov. 30) - A record crowd packed the Audi Birds of Prey finish area Friday as Italian Christof Innerhofer took the win in the men's downhill. Travis Ganong led the U.S. Ski Team in 16th. It was the first downhill win for Innerhofer in four years as he upset favorite Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway who was second. Marco Sullivan, who was on the podium in Lake Louise a week ago, was 18th. Racers from across the world praised the Audi Birds of Prey course crew for building one of the best World Cup tracks in recent memory. The Audi Birds of Prey downhill will air on NBC this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST.

HIGHLIGHTS

Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA) led the U.S. Ski Team at the Audi Birds of Prey finishing 16th with Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) 18th.

Italian Christof Innerhofer picked up his first downhill win in four years over pre-race favorite Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway.

A record crowd of around 8,000 packed the newly-renovated finish area that will be used for the 2015 World Championships.

Racers and coaches have praised the Birds of Prey race crew for preparing the best World Cup track in recent memory.

Super G is on tap for Saturday with Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) looking to content. Live coverage on Universal Sports TV is available free at usskiteam.com beginning at 1 p.m. EST.

QUOTESTravis GanongI pushed the line, I really charged - I wanted to do something big today. But I had some mistakes. I was pretty pumped up. But my skiing's in a pretty good place and it will get better and better.

Coming into the Brink I got a little tossed and was low into the Talon Turn. Coming into the Pump House I got squashed on a bump in the traverse.

Marco SullivanIt was a really tight race today. I had one bobble coming around the corner into Screech Owl and that kind of killed my speed. Innerhofer had an amazing run, so with the mistake I had I can't be dissapointed. I'm excited for tomorrow's super G and the next downhill in Val Gardena, Italy.

We have some good momentum with this team. We're really excited with the good results in Lake Louise and we're hoping to show that momentum tomorrow.